Saturday, January 28, 2012

Polenta! A staple of Italian country cooking.

Polenta, boiled cornmeal, is the base for many (Italian) dishes. One of which is this polenta breakfast scramble.  I love tofu scrambles so when I found out I had a "sensitivity" to tofu (but soy protein is ok- go figure) my breakfast dreams were shattered so I decided to replace the tofu with polenta. I also add veggie sausage/patties for a bit of protein. Check it out.


To start:
*You will need polenta- the pre-made kind in a tube which can be found at your local grocery store. Making polenta from scratch definitely tastes better but for this recipe the pre-made kind (plain, sundried tomato, or basil) works fine. It's also easier to cube or crumble for the scramble. For other recipes I recommend making it from scratch.

Note: If you buy the small tube use the whole thing. If you buy the large size use about half.

Other ingredients:
Your favorite salsa (if you are in a pinch and don't have salsa, tomato sause works fine)
2  med. cloves fresh garlic
1 med. zucchini cubed
1 portobello mushroom- chop in to pieces
2 cups chopped white button mushrooms (I am a big mushroom fan so I tend to go overboard so you can adjust amount to taste)
1 small red and green pepper- chop, clean and dice
2 shallots or 1 small onion

I like to sautée the onions a garlic in about a teaspoon of oil. When soft/ translucent,  I add in about 2 tablespoons of salsa and sautée the vegetables with the garlic and onions for a couple of minutes before adding in the polenta. I prefer chopping the polenta in to small cubes but you can just crumble it up and throw it in the pan. I let everything cook with the lid on (stir occasionally) until everything is soft. Then serve as is or fry up some veggie breakfast patties or veggie links(like yves) for protein.

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